Bruins notch much-needed, convincing win over Caps

Recap: After a few unlucky opening frames, the
Bruins not only outplayed but outscored their opponent in the first
period on Sunday. The B’s were staked to a 1-0 lead when
Milan Lucic beat Tomas Vokoun at the 10:45 mark on a feed from Rich
Peverley. Brad Marchand doubled the edge with 1:22 left in the
stanza with a backhander.

After a scoreless second, Tyler Seguin pushed the lead to three,
tipping in his 20th goal of the campaign. Marcus
Johnsson’s 11th of the season with 7:56 left gave
the Capitals some momentum, but Tim Thomas and Co. held the fort
for the remainder of the contest. Peverley closed out the scoring
with 41 seconds left, burying an empty-netter as Boston stopped
their two-game skid with a 4-1 win at Verizon Center.

Records: Boston 33-16-2, 68 points; Washington
27-21-4, 58 points

Key Play of the Game: After falling behind
early with immense regularity of late, the Bruins badly needed to
get on the board first. Lucic’s goal was a gorgeous play. The
winger drove to the net on a 2-on-2 with Rich Peverley, but Caps
d-man Dennis Wideman didn't follow him. Peverley flipped a
beautiful pass through to No. 17, who was all alone in front. Lucic
waited Vokoun out before beating him on the forehand.

Connolly’s Commendations: It was a great
day all around for the “second” line. Patrice Bergeron
had two assists, was plus-3 and won 15-of-24 (63%) faceoffs. Seguin
hit the 20-goal plateau and Marchand chipped in a goal and a
helper.

After a dismal showing on Saturday in which he had zero shots,
Lucic was light-years better for the B’s in this one. The
23-year-old forward played with much more energy, notched his
19th goal of the season and fired four shots in the
much-needed win.

Many expected Tuukka Rask to be between the pipes after Thomas
played on Saturday, but the veteran found out late Sunday morning
he’d be getting the nod. Thomas was simply superb, stopping
35-of-36 against a depleted-but-still-dangerous Caps squad.

Great job by the top pairing of Zdeno Chara and Johnny Boychuk
to shut the Alex Ovechkin line down. The two d-men had a combined
rating of plus-5, Boychuk had a team-high four hits and Chara led
the way with 25:49 of ice time.

Jordan Caron also had a solid showing in his return to the
lineup from Providence. No. 38 had four shots on goal and was
considerably more noticeable than the winger he replaced (Zach
Hamill).

Connolly’s Critiques: Maybe a bit of
nitpicking here, but it was another quiet showing for Benoit
Pouliot. No. 67 missed on all three of his attempted shots and
didn’t do much in 14:03 of TOI.

Notes: Chris Kelly ended a six-game point
drought with an assist on Peverley’s empty-net goal.
Pouliot’s now gone five tilts without a point. Thomas
improved to 14-4-2 in his career against Washington.

Final Thoughts: Now that’s the Bruins
we’ve been looking for. Boston played superb at both ends of
the ice in their 4-1 victory on Sunday, with extra credit going to
the rearguards for turning things around and stepping up against
the Caps (and on the road, to boot). Hopefully the B’s can
use the win as a springboard and start racking up points at a
better clip throughout February.

Next: The Bruins won’t play again until
Wednesday when they pay a visit to the Sabres up in Buffalo.